Crow by Barbara Wright

Author:Barbara Wright [Wright, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-98270-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

The Saturday of my birthday finally arrived, and I awoke to a clear October day, when the trees hadn’t even thought about changing and the weather was so hot that you’d never have known it was fall. This was the day I was going to ride the train for the first time. For my birthday, Grandpa Tip had purchased me and Daddy discount tickets to Fayetteville, about seventy-five miles away.

I shined my shoes and took a bath, even though I had taken one two days before. Boo Nanny ironed my Sunday suit, and I was ready to go long before Daddy.

We walked to the station, and the train was waiting on the tracks. “You go on and board. I’m going to check and see if Grandpa is working on this train,” he said. “Just start walking toward the back and I’ll catch up with you.”

The first car was crowded, so I walked to the next one and took an aisle seat toward the middle of the car so Daddy could easily find me. Several businessmen looked up from their newspapers. An older gentleman sat in front of me with his hat in his lap. A couple of Negroes hoisted luggage onto the shiny racks above the seats. Soon nearly every seat was taken. There was a buzz and bustle in the car, and I had the feeling people were looking at me.

Two rows up, a mother sat with her young daughter, who wore a crisp pinafore and high-top shoes that didn’t reach the floor. The mother called the conductor over and whispered something in his ear. Afterward, the conductor approached me.

“You’ll have to move on, boy,” he said.

“My father will be here any minute. He has the tickets,” I said, knowing full well I could not sit here without a ticket.

“Very good, but this car is reserved. The colored car is further back. Move along, now.”

Heat spread to my ears and I felt searing shame, as if I were being made to stand in the corner with a dunce cap for something I didn’t do.

Lewis hadn’t told me about this. Daddy and Grandpa hadn’t mentioned it, either. I felt betrayed.

At that moment, Daddy came up.

“Come along, Moses. It’s not as crowded in back,” he said.

We walked until we reached a run-down car that hadn’t been swept in quite some time. The windows were so cloudy I couldn’t see out. The seats were starting to shed their stuffing, and the water cooler had gnats floating on the surface. Mama would have had a fit if she’d seen this filthy car.

“Why do we have to sit here?” I said.

“It’s better. Not as crowded,” Daddy said without emotion.

My stomach felt queasy—the car smelled almost as bad as the underground tunnels—and I tried to open a window to get some air, but the latch was stuck. After trying several windows, I found one that worked (it was clearer, too), and we moved to that row. Grandpa Tip was not working on this train. If he were, he would never allow this car to be in such a state.

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